How To Develop a High-Level Social Media Strategy In 5 Easy Steps
One of the most common mistakes businesses make when marketing on social media is not planning ahead. Why do you need a social media strategy? Good question.
Treating your social media marketing as an afterthought can lead to inconsistency, less follower engagement, and less-than-effective ad placement. Bottom line: if you’re not spending time on a social media strategy, then you’re wasting time (and sometimes money)!
Step 1: Goals- What Are You Talking About?
First things first, what exactly do you want to get out of all this? Social media is a great medium to execute your company’s S.M.A.R.T. goals; goals that are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely.
The best way to develop a S.M.A.R.T. goal is to start with your company’s mission and big-picture objectives and break them down into strategic actions you can work at a little everyday.
In the end, everything you do will have a purpose and it will help you educate your customers about your business and effectively tell its story.
Take our client, Rochester YMCA, for example.
Their mission states, “The YMCA of Greater Rochester is a charitable association of members that seeks to place Christian principles into practice through its programs for the community to build a healthy spirit, mind, and body for all.”
Using the above statement, an example of a smart goal would be, “To increase our wellness program membership by 10% before the start of the next fiscal year (8 months).”
This is a S.M.A.R..T. goal because it is:
- Specific- Increase wellness program participation
- Measurable- 10% membership increase
- Attainable- Let’s say for example’s sake that the company increased its membership by 15% in its previous 12 months. Based on this information, it seems attainable to achieve a 10% increase in 8 months.
- Relevant- it fits the company’s mission of community health and wellness
- Timely- 8 month goal, beginning immediately
It is possible, actually common, to have many S.M.A.R.T. goals for your business. However, it is up to you to decide what they are before you proceed with any marketing plans. It’s easier to get somewhere if you already know where you’re going before you leave! (Shout out to MapQuest for actually never helping with this 🤦🏾♀️.)
Step 2: Audience- Who Are You Talking To?
The next logical step is to share these goals but, do you know who your target audience is? If not, what better time to find out! Take some time to think about the traits of your ideal customer.
Things like their age, location, gender, and even their income and education all create a ‘Buyer Persona’.
This ‘Buyer Persona’ is a fictional character you create based on your ideal customer traits. Knowing this information can help you know how, when, and what content to publish to reach your target customer.
You can also take it a step further and research the social channels this Buyer Persona uses, influencers they may follow, their pain points (challenges they face that your business can solve), and competitors who are also trying to reach this same customer!
Besides, use this research to stand out from the crowd and engage with them more authentically.
🔑 Phu Tip: Take the time out to craft a key message for each buyer persona your company may serve (some businesses have many). Consequently, this will be the underlying goal of each piece of content you create for that specific audience.
For example, our client, Waterstreet Music Hall (who has a new website currently under construction), hosts a wide range of performances at its venue, each catering to a different buyer persona. A key message crafted for a buyer persona who prefers R & B is probably quite different than that of a buyer persona who prefers Rock ‘n Roll.
Tailoring a key message for each buyer persona allows for consistency and authenticity within your marketing, no matter who is doing the publishing.
Step 3: Consistency- Are You Still There?
The worst thing you can do after going through all this planning and research is this: You post strong for about 2 or 3 weeks, and then fall off because you’re discouraged that your number of followers didn’t double overnight.
Far too often, businesses get caught in the “I want to grow my followers” mindset and lose sight of their S.M.A.R.T. goals.
Now, if you’re a social media influencer who’s income depends on a large following, then maybe increasing your followers is one of your S.M.A.R.T. goals.
But, if your goal is to increase foot-traffic to your brick and mortar business, or web traffic to your ecommerce business; then increasing your followers should be a positive side effect of all the marketing efforts you’re using to accomplish these primary goals.
Even social media influencers have other S.M.A.R.T. goals outside of increasing followers, which drive their marketing strategy and follower base.
Undoubtedly, one of the main struggles many businesses have with social media is remaining consistent and engaged. Because followers and potential customers can’t build brand loyalty if they don’t know who you are, it’s called SOCIAL media for a reason!
🔑 Phu Tip:
Build and keep a Content Bank (any pictures, videos, original designs, infographics, blogs, etc. you may have created). Eventually you will publish it again or re-purpose it for other marketing efforts. In other words, this makes it easier to keep relevant content without the pressure of having to constantly create something new.
It also helps to invest in an automated publishing tool (like Hootsuite, IFTTT, or Buffer) to keep a consistent publishing schedule that doesn’t take up too much of your time.
Step 4: Evaluate- How’d It Go?
Evaluate the analytics of your posts. Keep in mind the performance indicators like:
- comments, likes, views, and shares
- Responses to invitations and calls to action
- Which days, times, social channels, and content types get the most interaction
- Pay per click analytics
You can invest in Google Analytics, although Hootsuite, Buffer, Hubspot, and many social channels like Facebook and Instagram already have built in analytics tools to help with this step.
This step can also save you money. When it comes to using paid ads, it’s nice to have an idea of what will work best so that you’re being as cost effective as possible.
Using paid ads to increase a reach that’s already pretty wide due to effective marketing will definitely add a boost to your brand awareness, and eventually your sales.
Step 5: Re-Strategize – Lather, Rinse, Repeat…
Use your analytics information to tailor your strategy for the future. The reason we say ‘lather, rinse, repeat’ is because this is a never ending process!
As your business grows and you meet your initial goals (Congrats! 🥂), you will continue to create new ones. These will be new S.M.A.R.T. goals that will lead to new marketing strategies.
Consistently monitoring the performance of your campaigns is the best way to learn what works, and subsequently what doesn’t.
Conclusion:
All in all, the best strategies have often been fine tuned with the experience that comes from trial and error.
If, after this final step, you find that some things are working better than others, it’s perfectly fine to change them!
You may even find that you have to wipe the slate clean and go back to step one, especially if your business’ mission and big- picture objectives evolve.
additionally, stay mindful of where you want to take your business and each step you take will get you a little closer to that goal.
At any rate, if you’re struggling with your social media strategy, contact us today to help you sort it out!
With COVID-19 mandated closures and everyone quarantined at home, now is the best time to reach your customers through social media. Let Phu Concepts help you take your strategy to the next level! They’re all online, now’s the time.
